Bitter Sweet Treat
by morby-chan
Summary: And for a moment I wondered what it must be like to make people happy and not filled with fear, and then he pulled me back into the shadows to be hated. [Jack x OC]
1. Prologue

I don't remember much… Just waking up in a dark place…. A very dark place… but the strange part is… I wasn't scared.

I made my way through the unknown to civilization and I felt no relief.

I saw my reflection and was met by strange bright yellow eyes that weren't my own, and yet I wasn't alarmed.

I met a man who ignored my words, a woman who stared past me, and a child who ran right through me, and yet I didn't panic.

But then… then I heard a voice… He called out to me while slowly drawing himself out from the shadows. His voice was smooth and calm but held a terrible anger that he clearly didn't mean to shine through, I heard it though and… well, I was nervous. He carried himself with confidence and power, explained to me who he was, who **I** was… Said we should work together, warned me of what I now was, and for some reason… I believed him. He put his arm around me, played the part of the old friend, claiming that he was the only one who would help and understand me. Even then I didn't doubt, even as my stomach clenched uncomfortably and my heart squeezed and beat with unease, but then he reached for my mask and I dove out of his grasp.

It was an instinct, a movement I hadn't even thought about before acting upon it. The look on his face told me that he wasn't pleased with my actions. My heart pounded in my throat, I was scared, I was genuinely scared. But I couldn't move, I didn't want to. A part of me wanted to run, but something inside me, something much stronger forced me to stand my ground and stare down this strange man. After a good while he gave a small laugh, excusing my behavior and his reaction before telling me who he really was. Before he had simply given me his name, now he was telling me who he actually was; fear.

We talked for what my nerves thought were ages and then he left, but the strangest part was… when he left, I went with him.


	2. A Sky Filled with Gold

**Thanks so much for the review, favorite, and follow! There isn't much dialogue in this chapter, but there were a few key points I needed to begin laying down. After all, every story needs a good foundation. ;] I'm a little rusty so please bare with me, I'll try to have the next chapter up asap!**

A sigh passed through my lips as my fingers ran over the thin but deep patterns that adorned the mask in my hands. It wasn't just any old mask, it was mine; carved from what I assumed was wood, covered with intricate spiral like details, and dyed a bright orange that always stood out against my short black locks. It reminded me of pumpkins and fit snuggly on my face consuming me in a light spicy scent. I was strangely attached to the small item; I had woken up with it that first night in the forest. The few spirits I'd met, or the few who would actually talk to me anyway, had explained to me that it was a gift from the moon…

That was all well and good, I supposed, but I didn't know if I believed it. The man on the moon was supposedly a spirit himself, a 'father to us all' sort of thing, as they say. But I had never been too sure about whether or not this was true. I mean, I believed in the moon and I believed in spirits, but putting the two together? Yes, I had awoken underneath the shine of the full moon. Yes, I felt a strange connection to it and sometimes like it was really watching me. But he had never talked to me, never once tried to explain anything, answer any of the obvious questions I had, or shown any signs at all that he was anything other than a giant rock floating above my head!

The other spirits were so sure about it that I often found myself staring at the moon silently wondering if he might suddenly decide to try and change my mind. Hell, even Pitch believed in the Man on the Moon! But nothing ever happened, nothing ever came along to try and change my belief on the subject and so I began to just ignore it, or as best I could…

"Staring off again, are we?"

Pitch's voice broke my thoughts; it always had such a smooth, classy tone that felt like it should put me at ease. After centuries together I'd come to find his presence a lot more natural and less threatening, but I could still never let my guard down. Our powers worked amazingly well together and there were definitely worse spirits to spend an eternity with, but I knew I would never fully trust him. For all his brilliance, talent, and charisma he was a sick and sadistic man, literally gaining his strength through the fear and misery of others. When I'd agreed to follow him I was shocked and at times even disgusted at the things he would do, and in fact enjoyed doing, I was ashamed to have a hand in helping him but I still did out of fear. He was my teacher, my companion; he came along when I was alone and confused and offered to take me under his wing. He looked after me and taught me how to use my new abilities. After awhile we developed a strange sort of relationship, he became more insecure about the idea of me leaving and even went as far as basically forbidding me to talk to other spirits that he didn't approve of. And yet part of me wanted to escape; but he was a very powerful and threatening man, who I knew would never think twice about hurting me should I ever anger him. I was on edge, I felt wrong, and yet… I stayed.

"I can't help it," I finally replied; eyes meeting his before trailing back down to my mask, "everything about it just draws me in. It's like it's a part of me."

Pitch opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a large stream of gold flying past our heads. My eyes immediately widened and I jumped to my feet, standing on my tiptoes for a better view. The sky filled with rivers of gold sand and I followed them back to the small child like spirit controlling them all atop a golden cloud. It was a beautiful view that I enjoyed seeing each night, and yet somehow filled me with a deep nostalgic loneliness. I smiled as one danced around us before slowly making it's way to its own sleeping child.

"So much power and potential and yet he uses it on giving children happy dreams." Pitch sneered with disdain. "I can never tell if His _precious_ guardians are stupid or just useless."

I had only met the guardians once and they hadn't seemed to like me. It had been one of the rare times that I'd successfully strayed from Pitch's side, but on second thought it had been for the best. I hadn't known about them, but they had known about me, it seemed everyone did. Pitch was not very liked at all and as a result neither was I. But Sandman, or Sandy as they'd all called him, had been different; he had stood almost behind the others and wouldn't make eye contact. He was also… so familiar… When Pitch had found out he'd been angry; he'd yelled at me and ranted about how much he hated them and how, 'they were made for helping people and being loved and we were just made to be hated'.

"Come, Kassandra," Pitch ordered with his back already to me as he made his way back into the shadows.

With a sigh I followed, like always, but not without taking one more look at Sandy and somehow wondering what it must be like to have powers that filled children with hope and made them happy. And for a moment I could swear he was looking back and I was afraid of what he saw.


End file.
